Vehicle body door lock

ABSTRACT

A vehicle body door lock includes a bellcrank lever pivoted to the bolt and spring biased in one direction. One leg of the bellcrank is engageable with the latch frame to control the position of the bellcrank with respect to the bolt and locate the other leg of the bellcrank in engagement with the detent to maintain the detent out of engagement with the bolt in all positions of the bolt except fully latched.

United States Patent- Ramon L. Bessette East Detroit, Mich.

Mar. 27, 1970 Oct. 12, 1971 General Motors Corporation Detroit, Mich.

Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee VEHICLE BODY DOOR LOCK 3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

292/216 Int. Cl E05c 3/26 Field of Search 292/336,

l lelerences ited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,694,591 1 1/ i954 Anschuety 292/216 FOREIGN PATENTS 1 159,448 10/1954 Australia 70/303 A Primary Examiner-Richard E. Moore Attorneys-W. E. Finken and Herbert Furman ABSTRACT: A vehicle body door lock includes a bellcrank lever pivoted to the bolt and spring biased in one direction. One leg of the bellcrank is engageable with the latch frame to control the position of the bellcrank with respect to the bolt and locate the other leg of the bellcrank in engagement with the detent to maintain the detent out of engagement with the bolt in all positions of the bolt except fully latched.

PATENTEUum 12 Ian 3.612.593

INVI'IN'I (IR.

VEHICLE BODY DOOR LOCK This invention relates to vehicle body door locks and more particularly to a vehicle body door lock wherein the detent is maintained out of engagement with the bolt during movement of the bolt between unlatched position and a position immediately adjacent fully latched position.

One of the features of the door lock of this invention is that the bolt carries a blocking means which is positioned in engagement with the detent to maintain the detent out of engagement with the bolt during movement of the bolt between a position immediately adjacent latched position and unlatched position. Another feature is that the bolt-carried means is positioned by engagement with a portion of the latch frame. A further feature is that the bolt-carried means includes a multiarmed lever which is biased in one direction and is positioned by engagement of one of the arms of the lever with a portion of the latch frame.

These and other features of the door lock of this invention will be readily apparent from the following specification and drawings wherein: p

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view of a vehicle body door lock according to this invention, with the bolt shown in unlatched position;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the bolt in a position immediately adjacent fully latched position; and

-, FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the bolt in fully latched position.

Referring now particularly to the drawings, only a fragment of a vehicle body door lock is shown.' For the details of the lock and a description of the operation thereof, reference may be had to Fox et al. US. Pat. No. 3,190,682. Only a description of those details necessary to an understanding of this invention will be made.

The lock 10 includes a main frame or plate 12 having a cutout portion 14 for the reception of a striker pin 16. Pivotally mounted at 18 on the frame 12 is a fork-type bolt 20. Bolt 20 is movable between an unlatched position as shown in FIG. 1 and a latched position as shown in FIG. 3. When the bolt is in latched position, the shank 22 of the striker pin 16 engages the base of the bolt throat to thereby hold the vehicle door in a closed latched position as is well known. A coil torsion spring 24' surrounds the pin 18 and is anchored between this pin and the bolt 20 to continually bias the bolt toward unlatched position.

A detent 26 is pivoted at 28 to the frame 12 and a coil torsion spring, not shown, connected between the detent and the frame continuously biases the detent counterclockwise toward detented position. As is shown and described in the aforementioned Fox patent, the detent 26 is moved between its detented position shown in FIG. 3 and an undetented position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 by both inside and outside operating means. The detent 26 includes a depending foot 30 which is engageable with a bolt shoulder 32 when the bolt is in latched position as shown in FIG. 3 to thereby maintain the bolt in this position against the action of the spring 24.

, Normally the detent 26 engages the edge of the bolt when the bolt is in unlatched position and thus the foot 30ratchets past the detent shoulder 32 as the bolt moves from unlatched to latched position. This ratcheting of the detent relative to the bolt shoulder produces operational noise.

In accordance with this invention, a multiarmed or hellcrank lever 36 is pivoted at 38 to thebolt 20. A coil torsion spring 40 surrounds the pin 38 and is engaged with both the pin and an arm 42 of the lever 36 to continuously bias the lever in a clockwise direction with respect to the bolt. The frame 12 includes a lanced lateral tab 44 and the clockwise movement of the lever 36 about pivot 38 under the action of spring 40 is controlled by the engagement of the upper edge 46 of arm 42 with the lower edge of the tab 44. The other leg 48 of lever 36 includes a shoulder 50 and a cam edge 52 which partially defines this shoulder. As will be apparent from a further description, the shoulder 50 and the edge 52 are engageable with a lateral tab 54 of the detent 26 to maintain the between an unlatched position and a position immediately adjacent fully latched position.

As shown particularly in FIG. I, when the bolt is in unlatched position, the engagement of edge 46 with tab 44 positions the lever 36 in a generally right-angle position so that the shoulder 50 engages the tab 54 to maintain the detent 26 in its undetented position against the action of its biasing spring. As the bolt moves from the unlatched position of FIG. 1 to the position shown in FIG. 2, which is a position immediately adjacent the fully latched position shown in FIG. 3, the bolt rotates clockwise about the pivot 18. As the bolt moves in this direction the pivot 38 likewise moves clockwise of the pivot 18 and in turn the lever 36 is rotated counterclockwise about the pivot 38 as the edge 46 of am 42 moves relative to the tab 44. As the lever 36 rotates counterclockwise about the pivot 38, the shoulder 50 first moves out of engagement with tab 54 and into engagement with the edge 52, the detent 26 thereupon moving slightly counterclockwise, and then tab 54 and edge 52 move relative to each other to their position shown in FIG. 2, wherein tab 54 engages shoulder 56 of leg 48.

As the bolt moves from the FIG. 2 position, which is immediately adjacent fully latched position, to the full latched position of FIG. 3, the lever 36 continues to rotate counterclockwise as the pivot 38 moves clockwise of the pivot 18. As soon as the bolt moves slightly past its FIG. 2 position, shoulder 56 of arm 48 moves out of engagement with the tab 54 so that the biasing spring of the detent 26 thereupon moves the detent counterclockwise from its FIG. 2 undetented position to its detented position of FIG. 3. The detent foot 30 reaches its FIG. 3 position immediately after the bolt reaches fully latched position so as to engage the bolt shoulder 30 and retain the bolt in this position. It can thus be seen from the foregoing description that the lever 36 maintains the detent out of engagement with the bolt during movement of the bolt between unlatched position and a position immediately ad jacent latched position.

It is believed apparent from the foregoing description that when the detent 26 is moved from its detented position of FIG. 3 to its undetented position shown in FIG. 2 by either the inside or outside operating means of the door lock, the tab 54 of the detent will move past the leg 48 of the lever 36. As soon as the detent foot 30 moves out of engagement with the bolt shoulder 32, the bolt immediately moves to unlatched position, as shown in FIG. I, under the action of the spring 24. This movement of the bolt swings the lever 36 clockwise from its FIG. 3 position to its FIG. 1 position so that the shoulder 50 underlies the tab 54 to maintain the detent in undetented position when the inside or outside operating means is thereafter released.

Thus this invention provides an improved vehicle body door lock wherein the detent is maintained out of engagement with the bolt during movement of the bolt between unlatched position and a position immediately adjacent latched position.

I claim:

1. A vehicle body door lock comprising, in combination, a latch frame, a bolt mounted on the frame for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions and engageable in detented position with the bolt to maintain the bolt in latched position, detent positioning means mounted on the bolt for movement therewith and movement independently thereof, and cooperating means on the frame and the detent positioning means operable during movement of the bolt between unlatched position and a position immediately adjacent latched position to locate the positioning means relative to the bolt in engagement with the detent means in undetented position to maintain the detent means in the undetented position.

2. A vehicle body door lock comprising, in combination, a latch frame, a bolt mounted on the frame for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions and engageadetent out of engagement with the bolt as the bolt moves ble in detented position with the bolt to maintain the bolt in latched position, a multiarmed lever mounted on the bolt for movement therewith and movement independently thereof, and means on the frame slidably engageable with one arm of the lever to locate the lever relative to the bolt and position another arm of the lever in engagement with the detent means during movement of the bolt between unlatched position and a position immediately adjacent latched position to maintain the detent means in the undetented position.

3. A vehicle body door comprising, in combination, a latch frame having stop means, a bolt mounted on the frame for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions 

1. A vehicle body door lock comprising, in combination, a latch frame, a bolt mounted on the frame for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions and engageable in detented position with the bolt to maintain the bolt in latched position, detent positioning means mounted on the bolt for movement therewith and movement independently thereof, and cooperating means on the frame and the detent positioning means operable during movement of the bolt between unlatched position and a position immediately adjacent latched position to locate the positioning means relative to the bolt in engagement with the detent means in undetented position to maintain the detent means in the undetented position.
 2. A vehicle body door lock comprising, in combination, a latch frame, a bolt mounted on the frame for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions and engageable in detented position with the bolt to maintain the bolt in latched position, a multiarmed lever mounted on the bolt for movement therewith and movement independently thereof, and means on the frame slidably engageable with one arm of the lever to locate the lever relative to the bolt and position another arm of the lever in engagement with the detent means during movement of the bolt between unlatched position and a position immediately adjacent latched position to maintain the detent means in the undetented position.
 3. A vehicle body door comprising, in combination, a latch frame having stop means, a bolt mounted on the frame for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions and engageable in detented position with the bolt to maintain the bolt in latched position, a multiarmed lever pivotally mounted on the bolt for movement therewith and movement independently thereof, and resilient means biasing one arm of the lever into slidable engagement with the stop means on the frame to locate the lever relative to the bolt and position another arm of the lever in engagement with the detent means during movement of the bolt between unlatched position and a position immediately adjacent latched position to maintain the detent means in the undetented position. 